Proposal and marriage
by Crimson Solstice
Summary: Something that I just thought of when it wasn't explained how Niten and Aoife got engaged and were married. How did Niten ask Aoife to marry him? And what was her reaction? Please R and R Also, please forgive any OC ness of the characters :D
1. Chapter 1

**Niten's POV**

I watched as Josh, no Marethyu opened the portal. He chanted some sort of incantation in a language long passed and suddenly a bright shimmering circle appeared. "This will take me about…" Marehtyu thought, "A minute, can you wait that long?" He finished. "I've waited centuries…a minute should not make a difference." I replied calmly. But, underneath the calm disposition that I displayed, anxiety bubbled almost to a breaking point.

I am Musashi Miyamoto, now known as Niten, one of the greatest warriors who have ever lived. I have fought in hundreds if not thousands of battles. I have fought armies of man and monster. I have dueled with gods, monsters and men and have yet to lose. Yet, I tremble now at the thought of what is soon to happen. What if she says no? What will happen to our friendship? Could we even remain friends? These questions and the like raced once more through my mind, like the many hundreds of times when I wanted to ask her.

I began to break out in a light sheen of sweat. Soon, Marethyu would appear with Aoife. At the thought, my heart beat accelerated. Could I do it? Should I do it? And just as I was deciding for the hundredth time that I couldn't and shouldn't ask her the question, I remembered something.

The Elder, Prometheus, had told me to ask her. And, he said that she would have said yes. It calmed my nerves slightly that someone had confidence in me, and that that someone was the Elder uncle of Aoife. But I still felt worse than I had before the battle of Sekigahara, the single bloodiest battle in Japanese history that ultimately ended up shaping Japan forever.

I began to focus on my breathing. Breathe in…breath out…. Focus on nothing else. Time seemed to slow down and I noticed almost every single detail around me: The portal had words shimmering around it. The words were vaguely familiar, yet still incomprehensible. It was probably written in the language of the Elders, I thought to myself. I saw birds flying gracefully through the air; I saw their wings pump up and down in slow motion, propelling the birds' forward. I noticed the purple flowers that were at my feet.

And just as I thought that I had calmed down, they appeared. Marethyu came out of the portal dragging back a tall raven haired woman who seemed like she was fighting him. As he got her back on solid ground, I noticed that she was severely injured. She had long scratches running down her back and puncture marks all over her limbs. She was bleeding quite heavily from the multiple wounds, but her eyes, they were on fire.

When I looked into them, I saw something else. A literal flame, she was just itching to get back into the fight. I was amazed, she was stuck fighting an Archon, and not just and Archon, but the mother of all Archons at that, and she still wanted to fight. I knew that stopping her would almost be impossible…or perhaps even suicidal….

I sighed, knowing that she would only stop trying to get back into the fight if her opponent was dead or incapacitated, or she was dead or incapacitated. I sighed again, knowing that I would have to do something that I loathed doing: I'd have to knock her out.

As I started walking towards them, I saw Marethyu look at me, his eyes were tinged with despair, and I could see that he could only barely restrain Aoife. Well, that's Aoife for you, not even a destroyer of worlds can hold her back….

As I reached them, I said quietly "Aoife…." She stopped fighting for a second and looked at me, uncertainty in her eyes. I took the moment and grabbed her shoulder and pressed on the nerve cluster located there. The effect was instantaneous; she lapsed into unconsciousness right there and then, leaving a very confused "death" supporting a limp body.

"Thank you, I'll take it from here" I told him, as I bent to pick up Aoife. I hesitated, how should I carry her? I sighed again, there are just some situations that life never, ever prepares you for, and this was one of them.

I decided to just get it over with, and picked up gently, as groom would pick up his bride, which is rather funny, considering my situation. As I carried her gently, "death" eyed me oddly, as if wondering why I carried such a tough and dangerous woman the way I did.

"Later" I told him. He shrugged, nodded, closed the portal then simply vanished into thin air.

I took Aoife back to my house boat which was docked nearby. I still had not finished paining it in the dark green color that I was partial too. I really must finish it already, but this is beside the point.

I brought her into my room. It was plainly painted in a dark blue color, had only one closet which held some extra clothing that I had. The room also had a small mirror, a bed and a desk and chair.

I laid Aoife down on the bed and touched her forehead. I then let my aura seep into her to heal her since she probably used most of hers healing other wounds when she was fighting the Archon.

As my aura flowed down my arm and onto Aoife, her cuts and punctures began to heal. Slowly at first, and then with increasing speed as more and more of my aura flowed into her.

After a few aura draining minutes, all of her injuries were healed. She slept quietly…of course she did…I'd forgotten that she didn't need to breath.

I watched her as she slept. She was so, so beautiful. At first, I resisted the temptation to brush her hair. But, after mere seconds, I gave in to the temptation and brushed her hair with my fingers. They felt as soft as silk. But, seconds after I brushed it, a hand reached out and grabbed my wrist. With inhuman strength, it tossed me onto the bed. Seconds later, I was surprised to find myself under Aoife, her hand poised above me, curled into a fist.

We just stared at each other for the next few, but anxious moments….


	2. Chapter 2

"Niten?" Aoife asked uncertainly, the confusion apparent on her face. "What's going on, where's the archon, where are we, wha-?" I

I clamped a hand to her mouth to stop the torrent of questions that exploded from her. "Give me a minute to explain." I said calmly. She nodded slowly in reply.

"But before I explain, would you please relocate yourself from your current position? I find it to be a rather…compromising position, don't you?" I said slowly while at the same time concealing a grin.

Aoife frowned and blushed lightly…no that would be an overstatement. An almost unnoticeable shade of pink briefly appeared across her cheeks. With a swiftness and grace that only she, and perhaps her sister Scathatch, possessed, she got off of me before landing on the bed in a sitting position.

I sat up slowly before giving her the summary of what had transpired.

"Marethyu opened a portal and got you out and keeping the archon locked inside. After which, he handed you to me and I brought you here to my semi painted boat. After that, I healed you using my aura and now I am explaining this situation to you. Did you get all that?" I said slowly.

She just nodded again in a daze before flopping back onto the bed.

"Are you okay?" I asked quickly, thinking that maybe she hadn't healed enough or that I may have done something wrong.

She rolled onto her side, facing away from me, and replied, "Just a bit tired."

I sighed a completely silent sigh of relief.

We sat there for a few awkward moments. We never usually talked much. It was mostly her inviting me to journey across some of the most dangerous of shadow realms or some slight talking before a battle and things of similar stature.

All of a sudden, she asked, "Were you worried?"

I was stumped. If I honestly answered that I was worried, almost to death in fact, she may think that I'd lost confidence in her skills. If I said I wasn't worried, she might think that she wasn't that important to me.

Hundreds of years of experience have taught me that, you never really know what to say to women, be they human, elder, inhuman, beast, monster…or even insect for that matter.

I decided to go with not worrying because I knew of her pride of a warrior and she knew how much I trusted her. Maybe she will even think it a compliment, my saying that I wasn't worried about her being able to fight the mother of all archons.

Of course, the entire thought process, while seeming quite long, lasted less than half a second in reality.

I quickly put on a small smile and said, "Not in the slightest."

Suddenly, I saw her body's position shift. It was a very slight shift, so slight that a normal person would have never seen it. But, being the man and warrior that I am, I saw it.

Her body tensed up ever so slightly and she shifted her knees a bit. She also…shuddered? Now that movement was even more hidden. Even I couldn't be sure that she shuddered.

Of course, after seeing all these actions and adding them together.

I decided that I'd made some sort of horrible mistake somehow.

Truly, life is an amazing journey. One life time is not enough to experience the many possibly wonderful and terrible experiences that our world has to offer.

In a single life time I experienced some of the bloodiest wars in the history of Japan. In the same time, I became one of the greatest warriors to ever walk the earth.

But, I had never experienced the terrors and joys that I felt when I accompanied Aoife to the multitudes of different shadowrealms.

I never experienced true love until I was much, much older than the majority of the human race.

But this is beside the point already.

In summary despite my hundreds of years of existence and despite having hundreds of different and useful skills, I was unsuited and unprepared to face a situation like this one.

I quickly tried to rectify the possible mistake that I had made by quickly saying, "Aoife, I-"

But I was quickly cut off by her as she said, "What?"

I decided that waiting for a short while might be the smartest course of action for the moment.

And, true enough, Aoife continued to speak in light of my not responding.

She turned around and faced me with a grin on her face. She sat up and quickly said, "Good, I didn't need you or Marthyu anyway. I could've kept going for more than a hundred years of course."

Was it just me or did I just hear a slight tremble in her voice?

"Hell, I was even winning" she continued in a prideful voice.

Were her eyes slightly teary?

Just then, I remembered a few quotes I'd heard about war: "Audentes fortuna iuvat" or in English: "Fortune favors the bold"

Well, love and war are quite similar. Perhaps it would work…perhaps.

I quickly moved near her and cupped her face with my hand.

Aoife stiffened. She stared at me, unsure of what I was doing…or what I was about to do.

"Niten?" she whispered questioningly. She stared at me with uncertainty and perhaps hope showing in her eyes.

I stared into her eyes and almost lost my nerve. Could I really throw away our friendship for something that may just tear us apart and ruin everything that we'd done over the course of centuries?

Life is filled with so many difficulties… But, I must at least honor the memory of her late uncle, Prometheus, and try.

"Aoife…." I whispered softly, caringly. I bent down and touched my forehead to hers.

She was absolutely beautiful. No matter what state she was in, to me, she was always, and always will be beautiful.

That image of perfect beauty was the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes and gently placed my lips on hers.


	3. Chapter 3

As I pressed my lips to hers, I felt a softness that I had never known before. It was…it was…a feeling you cannot simply describe in words. One must experience if for themselves to know what I am speaking of.

After a short moment of almost incomparable ecstasy, I pulled back. I still needed to learn how Aoife felt.

I was worried…no, not even worried would be a proper word for what I feel at this moment. I was distressed. I have never, in my hundreds of years in existence, felt this worried about something.

She is the most precious thing in my life. Without her I feel that my entire existence would be meaningless. I who has been a warrior, painter, writer, actor and poet find would life meaningless without her.

Even if she told me that she didn't love me, though I would be heartbroken, I will still manage to live on in order to make sure she is happy in any way I can.

Love is not just an emotion, it is also a choice. Regardless of what may happen, whether it be hurt or happiness, I chose to love her. I chose to love her and accept the possible consequences that may result from my love, no matter how harsh they may be.

I am fully prepared to do anything for her. With my entire being, the only thing I wish for her is to be happy. I will do anything, absolutely anything to make her happy…even if it means leaving her….

After I pulled back, I opened my eyes, and what I found was shocking: A completely immobile and shell shocked Aoife.

She just sat there, not doing anything at all. Aside from being unmoving, she had a blank look on her face, as if she couldn't comprehend what had just happened.

In all my years of knowing her…not once had I ever seen her this way: Unfocused, unsure, and confused and without a word to say.

Perhaps I made a mistake…a very big one at that. I threw away our friendship because of my greed. I wanted too much. I should have just been happy as a friend…and now….

Now, who knows what we might be, awkward strangers? Maybe I disrespected her and I now have the person I have as a life-long enemy….

These horrid thoughts, and many similar ones, disturbed me. Did I really want too much?

All of a sudden, Aoife turned away from me.

I was panic stricken. I had to find out what she was thinking.

"Aoife?" I asked carefully.

When she didn't reply, I panicked.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…to…I'm sorry" I said as I stumbled through a horrible attempt at an apology.

I am so ashamed of myself. I never should have done that to her. I practically just forced a kiss on her…any maiden would have gotten understandably angry.

"I-I'll just go" I said quickly getting up.

Without warning, a hand shot out and grabbed my arm.

"Don't go!" Aoife said softly, looking at her lap.

I can barely see the side of her face…but I think her face was a rather…for lack of better wording 'cute' red.

"Are you…are you blushing?" I asked her slowly. This was the absolute first time that I'd ever seen her blush despite being with her for over a hundred years.

"NO, I-I'm not blushing!' she practically yelled at me.

I grinned. I believe this is what my people nowadays would call a 'tsundere'.

"Aoife, look at me." I said as seriously as I could manage.

She looked at me with a very flushed face. I've never seen her look cuter in my life.

I sat down beside her and mustered up the courage to say the one thing that I've wanted to say to her for the past decades.

"Aoife"…I cupped her face again with my left hand.

In response, she brought up her right hand and touched the hand that cupped her face.

Still flushing, she stared at me, a mixture of hope and anxiety plain on her face.

"Aoife" I repeated with more feeling as I bent down towards her again.

I stopped and whispered to her, "I love you Aoife"

I kissed her again, deeply this time, my right arm wrapping around her back to pull her towards me.

The thing that amazed me the most was not the fact that I was kissing her, or the fact that it wasn't a dream, was the fact that she was actually kissing back.

After a long and very enjoyable moment, I had to pull back to breathe.

Right after pulling back, I hugged her tightly. I placed my head on her shoulder and said again, "I love you Aoife."

After a short moment, I pulled back and I saw her with a tear leaking out of one of her eyes.

I brushed it off with a finger and asked her, "Why are you crying?"

"You don't know how long…I didn't think you…I never thought that…." She stumbled unsure of what she was trying to say.

We sat there for a few moments in a half comfortable, half awkward, if that makes sense, silence.

After about a minute of no speech, I decided to take the initiative.

"Do you love me?" I asked her seriously as I looked her square in the eye.

She looked back, flushed, and looked away.

"Do you?" I asked again.

"Yes" her reply was so soft that I might have mistaken it for the wind.

"Yes, what?" I teased her with a slight grin on my face.

She flushed even darker, rotated her body away from mine and whispered, "Yes, I love you…."

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her back to my chest and kissed the back of her head lightly.

"You cannot believe how much I have wanted to hear that." I whispered to her.

"Aoife…." I said after a short pause.

She turned to look at me and said, "What?"

I felt as though there were about a million butterflies in my stomach as I said "Aoife, will you marry me?"

She sat there and stared at me in stunned silence before more tears came out of her eyes and she sobbed out, "Yes"

I smiled wholeheartedly and kissed her again as I imagine a very long and bright future together.


End file.
